James
Chapter 4 Part 2
Warning
Against Worldliness
Be
afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to
mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Jas 4:9
Be
afflicted, and...
This is true repentance which always brings the mercy of God if done
in time—now (1Jhn. 1:7; Heb. 9:27).
Be
afflicted and wretched. This is the state of those truly broken over
their sin.
mourn,
and weep:... God will not turn away a heart broken and contrite over
sin (Psm. 51:17; 2Cor. 7:10). Mourning is the inner response to such
brokenness.
This
is speaking of true repentance from the heart. Worldly laughter and
worldly joy must change into a true repentance for sin. The joy that
comes later is from God, not worldly pleasures.
To
weep, The outward manifestation of inner sorrow over sin (Mark
14:72).
let
your laughter...
Used
only here in the New Testament, the word signifies the flippant
laughter of those foolishly indulging in worldly pleasures. The
picture is of people who give no thought to God, life, death, sin,
judgment, or holiness. James calls on such people to mourn over their
sin (Luke 18:13-14).
Ten
types of sin and pleasure:
1.
Wars and fightings (Jas. 4:1-2)
2.
Lusts of sin (Jas. 4:1-5; Eph. 2:1-3)
3.
Murders and killings (Jas. 4:2)
4.
Desires—covetousness (Jas. 4:2)
5.
Adulteries and other sex sins (Jas. 4:4)
6.
Friendships with worldly men (Jas. 4:4)
7.
Envies and jealousies (Jas. 4:5)
8.
Pride and haughtiness (Jas. 4:6-10)
9.
Laughter prompted by sin (Jas. 4:9)
10.
Joy founded on sin (Jas. 4:9)
To
be a sinner and to be truly sorry for the sin means a grieving, a
mourning, and even crying for forgiveness. The new life that true
repentance brings is not a life of worldly pleasures, but of Godly
joy.
Recognition
of the tremendous need for cleansing allows no room for merriment.
Grieve (lit., “be afflicted”), mourn, and wail was James’
candid advice. Exchange merriment for mourning and gaiety for gloom
(lit., “a downcast look, lowered eyes”). A contrite spirit of
confession is essential for God’s cleansing.
Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Jas
4:10
shall
lift you...
Mourners and penitents used to lie on the ground and roll themselves
in the dust. When forgiven, penitents arose from the earth and
clothed themselves in clean and better garments.
See
Psm. 75:6; Mat. 23:12, This final command sums up the preceding 9
commands, which mark the truly humble person. “Humble” comes from
a word meaning “to make oneself low.” Those conscious of being in
the presence of the majestic, infinitely holy God are humble (Isa.
6:5).
When
we are down as far as we can go, we look up and see Jesus who gave
His body on the cross that we might be lifted up. He will lift us up
from the depths of despair.
Psm.
147:6 “The LORD lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to
the ground.”
Advantage
Of Justice
The
key is humility. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift
you up. The way up is down. The lowly one becomes the lifted one.
There is a marked advantage to humility — eventually it brings
honor.
Speak
not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and
judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of
the law, but a judge. Jas 4:11
Speak
not evil... Greek:
katalaleo,
to speak against; backbite; rail at; slander (Jas. 4:11; 1Pet. 2:12;
3:16). This refers to slandering among the different factions of Jews
and the Jews against their brethren who had accepted Christ.
This
means to slander or defame. James does not forbid confronting those
in sin, which is elsewhere commanded in Scripture. Rather, he
condemns careless, derogatory, critical, slanderous accusations
against others.
speaketh
evil of... Those who speak evil of other believers set themselves up
as judges and condemn them (2:4). They thereby defame and disregard
God’s law, which expressly forbids such slanderous condemnation.
judgeth
the law:... By refusing to submit to the law, slanderers place
themselves above it as its judges.
Thank
goodness, we are not the judge, Jesus is. How can we judge another?
We are free from sin ourselves, only because we are forgiven. Judge
not, that you be not judged. The very best thing we can do is live
our own life as free from sin as we can, and leave the judgment up to
Jesus.
We
do not fully understand the law, or grace, how could we judge fairly?
To
slander and judge one another is totally incongruous to the humble
spirit God desires. Furthermore, to judge another is actually a
judgment of God’s Law itself. His Law is a mandate over all people.
No one dares assume a haughty position over the Law. The slanderer is
sentenced by the Law; the self-styled judge is jeopardized by the
Law; only the humble person is honored. True justice is rendered when
a believer subjects himself to God in humility and obedience.
There
is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou
that judgest another? Jas 4:12
lawgiver,
who is...
God is the one lawgiver and judge who is able to save or destroy. Man
has no right to usurp this authority (Jas. 4:11-12). God, who gave
the law (Isa. 33:22). He alone has the authority to save those who
repent from its penalty, and destroy those who refuse to repent.
who
art thou...
Questions 20-21. Next, Jas. 5:13.
When
we pass judgment on someone else, it is as if we think we are perfect
ourselves, and we are not. I love what Jesus did when the accusers
had the woman caught in adultery, and were about to stone her to
death. I truly believe that Jesus wrote their sins in the sand, and
that is why they left.
He
had said, you without sin cast the first stone. They all had to
leave, because they were not without sin.
1Jhn.
1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.”
We
Christians are justified (just as if we had never sinned), in Jesus.
Jesus as Judge, decides who are saved and who are lost. He is the
just Judge.
Boasting
About Tomorrow
Go
to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city,
and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Jas 4:13
Go
to now,...
This refers to traveling merchants, going from city to city
displaying their wares in the bazaars (Gen. 37:25).
James
does not condemn wise business planning, but rather planning that
leaves out God. The people so depicted are practical atheists, living
their lives and making their plans as if God did not exist. Such
conduct is inconsistent with genuine saving faith, which submits to
God.
This
one is a fool, for he thinks he knows something that he doesn’t. He
presumes he has the resources to control his destiny (Prov. 27:1;
Luke 12:13-21).
Turn
boasting into belief
In
addition to conflict and a judgmental spirit among the brethren,
bragging was also apparently prevalent. James gave an example of a
boastful statement, struck a condemnatory sentence on such boasting,
and offered a practical solution for boasting.
Statement
Of Boasting
James’
attack was direct. Now listen is literally, “Go now.” It is the
same construction found in Jas. 5:1, a colloquial phrase used only by
James in the New Testament. The interjection both goads the reader
and gains his undivided attention. The offender attacked by James is
a fairly typical businessman who makes his plans apart from God. He
is self-assertive in his travel plans: we will go to this or that
city; self-confident in his time schedule, spend a year there; and
self-centered in his trade relationships, carry on business and make
money. To carry on business is from a compound verb (emporeusometha,
from en,
“in,” and poreuomai,
“to go”) from which the English word “emporium” has come. It
is related to the noun (emporos)
which could be translated “merchant,” “trader,” “drummer,”
or “one who goes in and gets the trade.” A vivid picture of the
Jewish merchant James tried to correct is a go-getter salesman out
drumming up business for the bottom-line objective: “Make money!”
Whereas
ye know not what shall
be on the morrow. For
what is
your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and
then vanisheth away. Jas 4:14
know
not what... James exposes the presumptuous folly of the practical
atheists he condemned (in verse 13), those who do not know what the
future holds for them (Luke 12:16-21). God alone knows the future.
(Isa. 46:9-10).
It
is even...
This is practically what James said of the rich man in Jas. 1:10-11.
a
vapour, that... This refers either to a puff of smoke or one’s
breath that appears for a moment in cold air. It stresses the
transitory nature of life.
We
see from this, that we do not even know whether we will be alive
tomorrow or not. Our life is of God. We are born when and to whom the
Lord has planned for us to be. Our death is the same. There is an
allotted time for each of us to die.
We
leave this house of flesh when the breath of life that God put in it
leaves. We leave at the time that God has chosen, and not at our own
choosing. We leave not one second before our allotted time.
Man’s
days are numbered as the hair on his head. Let me share what Jesus
had to say about this very thing. This is about a rich man, who had
no idea he was about to die. He had a very big harvest, and we will
see what he did with his abundance.
Luke
12:17-20 “And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do,
because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?” “And he said,
This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and
there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.” “And I will say
to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take
thine ease, eat, drink, [and] be merry.” “But God said unto him,
[Thou] fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then
whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
We
do not have control of how long we live, God does. Make good of
today, it may be the only day you have.
Sentence
On Boasting
To the selfish hustlers James simply stated, Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. Man’s plans are always tentative. His plans are not his own. Time is not his own. In fact, life is not his own. James then fired another of his famous questions: What is your life? The answer is a mist (“vapour, a puff of steam”). Believers need this godly perspective on their earthly sojourn. Among other things, it blasts boasting right out of the selfish, proud quagmire from which it emerged.
For
that ye ought
to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. Jas
4:15
If
the Lord... The true Christian submits his plans to the lordship of
Christ.
and
do this,... This verse teaches that God does have something for
Christians to do and that they should plan accordingly. James
condemns only elaborate planning that omits God (Prov. 16:9).
It
is a very rash statement on our part to say what we will do tomorrow.
Only God knows if we will be alive tomorrow. The only truthful
statement we can make is, if it is the Lord’s will, I will do it.
Solution
For Boasting
The
key to avoiding boasting is to maintain a godly perspective. Instead
of making big plans on the human plane, one must expand his view to
include God in the picture. In place of vain boasting one should say,
If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that. These
are not so much words to be used like some charm but a realistic
attitude that affects all of one’s being and behavior.
But
now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Jas
4:16
in
your boastings...
Boastings here consist of bragging on buying and selling from city to
city and what one will do here and there. One should always say, "If
the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that" (Jas.
4:15).
This would demonstrate personal faith in God and His providence
instead of one’s own abilities. All such boasting is of evil
intent.
Arrogant
bragging about their anticipated business accomplishments.
Why
should we boast? We know that God has control over everything and
everyone. Then where is there room for boasting. We do not control
even our own life and death. Knowing this, we should be humble above
all men. To think of our self too highly is sin. In fact, it is the
same sin that got Lucifer thrown out of heaven.
To
make sure his readers understood, James reiterated that to boast and
brag… is evil. Self-centered bragging must be replaced by
God-honoring trust. The cure for boasting is belief.
Therefore
to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it
not, to him it is sin. Jas 4:17
to
do good... Here requires including God in one’s plans. Omitting God
is not merely bad planning; “it is sin”.
This
is saying that not only the bad things we do are sin, but we can sin
by omitting to do good. Sin is anything displeasing to God. When we
know to do good and do not do it, it is displeasing to God. Then, it
is sin. The sin here, is in full knowledge, so that would make it
worse.
it
is sin...
Greek: hamartia,
missing the mark. Translated sin 172 times (Jas. 4:16; Mat. 1:21;
etc.) sinful (Rom. 8:3); and offence (2Cor. 11:7). The implication is
that they also did what they shouldn’t do. Sins of omission lead
directly to sins of commission.
It
is likely that Jas. 4:1-17’s concluding sentence, Anyone, then, who
knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins, is related
not only to the matter of boasting but also to all the advice given
thus far in the epistle. “Then” (lit., “therefore,” oun)
supports this contention. James’ readers could not plead ignorance.
The letter abounds with exhortations to do good. To fail to comply is
clearly sin.
To
attain spiritual maturity a believer must do the good he now knows.
He must stand confidently on God’s Word even in trials and
temptations. He must compassionately serve his brethren without
prejudicial favoritism but with practical faith. He must speak
carefully with a controlled tongue and wise, cultivated thought. He
must submit in contrition to his all-powerful Father, Lawgiver, and
Judge with a humble spirit, just action, and a trusting heart. He
must be what God wants him to be, do what God wants him to do, speak
as God wants him to speak, and sense what God wants him to sense.
